Wesley Corpus

It is of an oval form ; as I judge by my eye, a hundred feet long, and seventy or eighty broad. It is very lofty, and has two rows of large windows; so that it is as light as our new chapel in London: And the rows of pillars, with every other part, are so finely proportioned, that it is beautiful in the highest degree. The House was so crowded both within and without, (and indeed with some of the most respectable persons in the town,) that it was with the utmost difficulty I got in ; but I then found I went not up without the Lord. Great was my liberty of speech among them ; great was our glorying in the Lord: So that I gave notice, contrary to my first design, of my in tending to preach there again in the morning; but soon after, the sexton sent me word, it must not be ; for the crowds had damaged the House, and some of them had broke off and carried away the silver which was on the Bible in the pulpit: So I desired one of our Preachers to preach in our little House, and left Belfast early in the morning. Tues. 9.--About eight I came once more to Newtown, where I had not been for eleven years, and preached at nine to a multitude of people, in the Presbyterian meeting-house. All of them seemed to be not a little affected. God grant the impression may continue ! From hence we had a pleasant ride to Portaferry, a pretty large sea-port town, and one of the quietest I ever saw, either in England, Scotland, or Ireland. Here likewise I preached in a large meeting-house, to a serious and well-behaved congregation, on, “Stand ye in the old paths;” and many seemed determined to “walk therein.” Wed. 10.--We had twice or thrice as many people in the morning as our House would have contained. We had then a lovely passage to Strangford; but the question was, where to preach. I was inclined to preach in the open air, as I did eleven years ago, till the Vicar called upon me, and, after a little friendly conversation, asked me if I would not preach in the 462 REv. J. Wesley’s June, 1789. chapel.